Johan Adolf von Freizau

Prince Johan Adolf Heinrich von Freizau von Hesse (6 April 1736-5 May 1810) was a prince of Hesse-Freizau and a commander of Hessians in the American Revolutionary War.

Biography
Freizau was born in Frankfurt-am-Main, the capital of the Hesse-Freizau city-state of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1756 he became a general in the army of Prussia during the Seven Years War and was rewarded with tons of money. Prince Johan made more cash by selling off German soldiers to the king of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War, and he commanded these troops as a General.

Freizau's army of 4,500 Hessians landed in New York in August 1776 and he fought in the Battle of Long Island with the Patriots, and was among the Hessians who fought in the Battles of Saratoga in 1777. Freizau's Hessian Redoubt was taken after a cannonade that destroyed his earthworks, and he abandoned the defenses. His forces fell back to New York City after the Saratoga disaster, and he remained in New York until 1783. He was on the first ship out of the city.

After the war, he returned home and in 1793 purchased Hesse-Freiberg from its prince Friedrich von Freiberg, and in 1798 sold more troops to Britain during the United Irishmen Rebellion. Freizau lived in the comfort of his estate until 1805, when the French sold it to Hessen as a part of their Confederation of the Rhine, and Freizau was reduced to poverty. He died in 1810 in Berlin.